Ozamiz city--City police
discovered and dug, Aug. 4, what was thought to be a mass grave allegedly used
by the Parojinog family for their salvage victims but instead found an old compost
pile.
PNP Ozamiz, led by Police C/Insp.
Jovie Espenido with Police Senior Inspectors Dennis Tano and Shiela Acosta, hollowed
out two deep holes at Purok 1 Cogon, some 5 kilometers from the city proper .
Village chairman Ludivina Macayran told
reporters it is good that the excavation finally pushed through so as to end
the so called unfounded information passed on as rumors among residents that the
area was used as a burial place of victims of extra-judicial killings
supposedly perpetrated by the mayor and his goons.
Macayran said she received
complaints from residents last February who complained about a foul odor coming
from the area so the council decided
to cover the two big holes with a truck load of soil.
She added the residents did not see
that a body was dumped in the area but only smelled the stench.
Police used a backhoe to burrow the
holes where sacks of garbage were dug out along with sacks containing animal bones
and feathers.
The trash and pieces of bones will
be taken to Regional Lab Crime laboratory for processing, said the PNP.
Espenido also told reporters he
ordered the excavation to know how true are the disclosures about this so-called
clandestine mass grave in the area.
Espenido added he also wants to substantiate
reports that salvage victims, who are either robbery victims who were not
locals and suspected government assets, were buried at suspected dumping
grounds.
As this developed, a certain “Noel”
claimed that he had worked for the Parojinogs as a hitman and drug courier for
20 years stated that he chopped the bodies of the murdered enemies of the
former Mayor.
Espenido disclosed that the
property where the bones were found was allegedly owned by a certain Marlon
Parojinog, a former kagawad who eventually resigned, and a nephew of the late mayor.
The police chief claimed that
Marlon was also a member of the notorious “Martilyo Gang” victimizing big malls
in Manila.
Last week, Espenido and his men dug
the demolished old residence of Parojinog in Bagakay to know if the Parojinogs
really buried dead bodies there.
The PNP said the old mansion is
formerly a meeting place of the alleged members of the syndicate handled by the
Parojinog to plan for their next crime.
It also was used as a ‘cemetery’ for
their political foes and illegal drug trade competitors, information quoting Espenido
said.
He added that pulling down their mansion
gave him an idea that the Parojinogs were hiding something from the current
administration.
The police chief ended by saying he
“will not stop digging until mass graves will be found.” (MICHAEL MEDINA)